Retired Bishop André Fort of Orléans was given an eight-month suspended sentence for failing to denounce acts of pedophilia

The bishop emeritus of Orléans in France has been given a suspended jail sentence for covering up sex abuse perpetrated by a priest sentenced to three years in prison for attacks on minors.

The Orléans Correctional Court handed Bishop André Fort an eight-month suspended sentence for failing to denounce one of his priests for acts of sexual abuse.

The 83-year-old retired bishop was tried at the same time as the priest, Father Pierre de Castelet, aged 69.

De Castelet was accused of sexually abusing about a dozen young boys in July 1993 at a summer camp of the Eucharistic Youth Movement, where he was the director.

The Correctional Court sentenced him to a prison term of three years, one of them suspended. It also gave de Castelet a two-year probation during which he is obliged to seek medical help. The court banned him from having any contact with minors.

The court also imposed heavy fines on both men.

Bishop Fort's sentence is even harsher than that of late Pierre Pican, the last bishop convicted of similar offences. Pican, bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux, had received a three-month suspended sentence in 2001.

Still, Thursday’s sentence was less than what the Office of the Public Prosecutor (OPP) had requested.

During the trial, on Oct. 30, Prosecutor Nicolas Bessone had requested one year in prison with an arrest warrant, calling for a verdict that would be an “electric shock” for the French Church.

For Father de Castelet, the OPP had requested a prison sentence of 30 months, six of them suspended, and three years’ probation with an obligation to obtain help.

Bishop Fort did not attend his trial, having produced a medical certificate the day before. Instead, his lawyer represented him.

Despite the very fragile state of the bishop, this last-minute absence had considerably irritated the court. Fort was also absent on Nov. 22 when the verdict was read. His counsel said he did not know whether there would be an appeal.

Olivier Savignac, one of the three victims represented in the lawsuit, said he was “satisfied” by the verdict.

“We’ve been recognised as victims,” he said.

Savignac predicted that “this trial will remain in the annals” of history, and he promised to remain involved in the fight against sex abuse in the Church.

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